Apparatus for weaving pile fabrics



Jan. 3, 1967 J, ERKEs 3,295,561

APPARATUS FOR WEAVING PILE FABRICS Filed April 27, 1965 :5 Sheets-sheet 1 F/G. ml

aa 30 2 24a & i '58 kY Q ii i FIG. 2

lNl/E/VTOR JOSEPH R ER/(ES Jan. 3, 1967 J. P. ERKES APPARATUS FOR WEAVING FILE FABRICS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 27, 1965 INVENTOI? JOSEPH P. ER/(ES VJ] mw ATTORNEY I Jan. 3, 1967 J. P. ERKES 3,295,561

APPARATUS FOR WEAVING FILE FABRICS Filed April 27, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet Z5 INVENTOR,

JOSEPH P. [IQ/(5 BY/WZ United States Patent 3,295,561 APPARATUS FOR WEAVING PILE FABRICS Joseph P. Erkes, Rock Hill, S.C. Steel Heddle Mfg. C0., 2100 W. Allegheny Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19132) Filed Apr. 27, 1965, Ser. No. 451,167 10 Claims. (Cl. 139-46) This invention relates to the weaving of pile fabrics and more particularly to apparatus and methods for the production of fabrics having the pile in relation to each pick as desired.

In my prior US. Patent No. 3,199,542, dated August 10, 1965, Apparatus for Weaving Pile Fabrics, improved provisions are shown for the control of a pile yarn with respect to a longitudinal pile wire for the formation of pile loops.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide further improvements for the control of longitudinal pile wires in their relation to the pile yarn with which additional weaves and weave effects can be attained.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide improved apparatus for the control of longitudinal pile wires to facilitate the formation of pile loops thereon, and with related pairs of pile wires oppositely tilted by control mechanism to determine the disposition of the pile warps on one side or the other side thereof.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide improved apparatus of the character aforesaid with which a greater variety of pattern effects can be obtained, with high output or high speed of production.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide improved apparatus for making pile loops in relation to picks with controlled raising and lowering of the pile warp and controlled tilting of a related pair of pile Wires for the crossing over of the pile loop from one side to the other of each of the pile wires but in opposite directions.

Other objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the description and claims.

The nature and characteristic features of the invention will be more readily understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part thereofi in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a portion of a loom illustrating a set of harness in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view, taken approximately on the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view, parts being omitted in the interest of clarity, showing the apparatus for controlling the tilting of the pile wires or gages;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view, enlarged, of two related pairs of pile heddles, taken approximately on the line 4-4 of FIG. 1, but with the pile heddles in raised condition, and with the pile wires tilted in one direction;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing the relation of one of the pile warps to the pile wire for one of the pile wires of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the pile wires tilted in the opposite direction;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 5 for the same pile wire as that of FIG. 5 showing the effect of the tilting of the pile wire; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged front elevational view of one of the pile heddles.

It should, of course, be understood that the description and drawings herein are illustrative merely, and that various modifications and changes can be made in the structure disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Patented Jan. 3, 1967 Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views.

Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, a fragmentary portion of a loom is shown which includes a warp beam 10 for supplying the warp threads 11 and 12 for the ground fabric. A pile Warp 15 is supplied from a creel or secondary beam (not shown). A harness set is provided, consisting, in its simplest form, of harness frames 16 and 17 carrying heddles 18 and 19 for controlling the warp threads 11 and 12 and providing at least a plain weave backing or ground fabric.

A reed 20 of known type is provided driven by the lay (not shown) for beating up the filling threads 21 with respect to the warp threads 11, 12 and 15 in a well known manner. The foregoing structure is well known.

In accordance with the present invention, a plurality of flat longitudinal pile wires 24 are employed, each pile Wire 24 being made of a thin flat strip of metal. The pile wires 24 are substantially rectangular in cross section and one pile wire 24 is provided for each pile warp 15. Each pile wire 24 has an eye 25 at its rear end for mounting on a transversely extending horizontal mounting rod 26. The rod 26 can be supported in any desired manner, one suitable support being by horizontally spaced hooks 27 having shanks 28 in threaded engagement in a horizontally extending frame bar 29. The frame bar 29 may be an angle iron forming part of or being carried by the frame of the loom. Lock nuts 30 may be employed for retaining the hooks 27 in adjusted position.

The pile wires 24 are formed of strip portions 24a, which are of a height equal to a multiplicity of the wire thicknesses, with the strip portions 24a extending through the dent spaces in the reed 20, and of pile receiving strip portions 241). The height of the pile wire 24, at the portion 24b, serves as a gage and determines the height of the pile loop in a well known manner.

Selected pile wires 24, and preferably alternate pile wires 24 have, forwardly of the eyes 25 at a predetermined distance, a cross or positioning bar 31, disposed in a substantially vertical plane end extending above and below the strip portion 24a, for controlling the tilting thereof. Other pile wires, and preferably the other alternate pile wires 24, have cross or positioning bars 31a, also disposed in a substantially vertical plane, at a different predetermined distance from the eyes 25 as shown in FIG. 3.

Referring now to FIG. 3 a lower rear stationary comb 32 is provided having horizontally extending spaced teeth 33 for the reception in the spaces therebetween of lower ends of cross bars 31. The wires 24 are held up at their rearward ends on the rod 26. The comb 32 has spaced slide blocks 34 fixedly carried thereon for the reception of an upper rear horizontally oscillatable comb 35. The comb 35 has horizontally extending spaced teeth 36 for the reception in the spaces therebetween of upper ends of vertical cross bars 31.

The comb 35 has one end of a return spring 37 connected thereto, the other end of the spring 37 being connected to the loom frame (not shown).

A lower front stationary comb 32a is provided, parallel to the comb 32, having horizontally extending spaced teeth 33a for the reception in the spaces therebetween of lower ends of vertical cross bars 31a. The comb 32a has spaced slide blocks 34 fixedly carried thereon for the reception of an upper front horizontally oscillatable comb 35a. The comb 35a has horizontally extending spaced teeth 36a for the reception in the spaces therebetween of upper ends of vertical cross bars 31a.

The comb 35a has a cable 48 connected thereto Which extends around a guide pulley 49, supported in the frame of the loom, and is connected to one end of the comb 35. This connection of the combs 35 and 35a provides for 3 simultaneous movement of the combs 35 and 35a in pposite directions.

The comb 35a, at its other end, has an actuating cable 39 secured thereto. The cable 39 extends over guide pulleys 40 to a clamp 41 adjustably positioned on a cam follower arm 42 and preferably held in position by a set screw 43.

The cam follower arm 42 is pivotally mounted at one end on a fixedly mounted pivot pin 44 and has a follower roller 45 engaging a pile wire tilt control cam 46.

The cam 46 has the surface thereof shaped in accordance with the actuation desired, and as set forth in detail in my prior Patent No. 3,199,542 referred to above. Merely by way of illustration the cam 46 is shown as of a type for providing pile loops for each two picks, with two consecutive left followed by two consecutive right tiltings of one group of pile wires 24 while the other pile wires 24 are simultaneously oppositely tilted, the pile Wires being free from tilting in intervals between shifts. Such a cam is shown in FIG. 8 of my prior Patent No. 3,199,542.

The cam 46, for this purpose has an intermediate or neutral portion 46A for upward or untilted disposition of all the pile wires 24, followed by a high portion 468 for tilting one group of pile wires 24 in one direction such as clockwise and another group in the other direction such as counterclockwise (see FIG. 4), an intermediate or neutral portion 46C for upward or untilted disposition of all the pile wires 24, a high portion 46D for tilting the pile wire 24 in the same directions as they were previously tilted by the action of the high portion 46B, an intermediate or neutral portion 46E for effecting the same action as the intermediate portion 46C, and a low portion 46F for tilting the pile wires 24 in opposite directions to those to which they were moved by the high portions 46B and 46D, an intermediate portion 46G like portions 46C and 46B, and a low portion 46H for repeating the action of the low portion 46F. The high portions 46E and 46F and the low portions 46D and 461-1 are preferably of the same duration and with their approach portions and dwells each of about one-half the length of the intermediate portions 46A, 46C, 46E and 46G.

The cam 46 is mounted on a cam shaft 50 having a gear 51 thereon engaged with a driving gear 52 on a bottom shaft 53 driven from the main shaft of the loom. As shown, the gears 51 and 52 are selected so that the shaft 50 is driven at half the speed of the shaft 53.

The pile warp 15 is controlled in its relation to the pile wire tilting and the shuttle movement by pile heddles 58. Each pile heddle 58 has an upper eye 59 for connection by an actuating cord 60 to a Jacquard mechanism 61 which can have cards of well known type, and controlled in a well known manner, providing a program to give the desired pattern effect of the pile warp 15.

Each of the pile heedles 58 preferably consists of a pair of parallel flat side strips 62, with a weight or lingo 63 connected to the lower ends of the strips 62 to urge the heddle 58 downwardly and capable of being raised by its cord 60. The pile heddle 58, between the side strips 62, has a needle strip 64 extending downwardly from the connecting eye 59 with a needle eye 65 at its lower end through which the pile yarn 15 extends.

It will be noted that the pile wires 24 extend through heddles 58 between the side strips 62 so that upon tilting thereof by the cross bar 31 or 31a the needle eye 65 carries the pile warp 15 down one side or down the other side of the pile wire 24 to form the pile loop over the pile wire 24 as desired.

The mode of operation will now be pointed out.

With the loom in operation the harness frames 16 and 17 are alternately raised and lowered in the usual manner to form successive sheds for the insertion of the respective picks of the filling threads 21 to form the ground fabric.

The cam 46 is effective for simultaneously positioning the combs 35 and 35a by the cables 39 and 48, the spring 37 providing a restoring force. The movement of the combs 35 and 35a with respect to the stationary combs 32 and 32a is effective for tilting the control bars 31 and 31a oppositely and in directions as determined by the high portions and low portions of the cam 46.

The effect of the tilting is shown in FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7. The pile wires 24 are shown as tilted alternately to the left and to the right in FIG. 4, alternately to the right and to the left in FIG. 6, and with the pile heddle 58 as indicated, in FIGS. 5 and 7 placing the pile warp 15 on the selected side.

In timed relation to the positioning of the pile wires 24, and of the harness frames 16 and 17, the Jacquard mechanism 61 controls the cords 60 to determine the position of the pile heddles 58 and of the pile warps 15 carried in the needle eyes 65.

The formation of a pile loop for one cycle will now be pointed out.

While the comb 35 is being moved to the left and the comb 35a is being simultaneously moved to the right to tilt contiguous pile wires 24 and the needle eyes 65 with the pile heddles 58 are being raised above the pile wires 24 by the Jacquard cord 60, the reed 20 is moving to its front center position at the fell of the cloth. When the reed 20 has reached this position and the top of the pile wires 24 have had the maximum tilt imparted thereto as determined by the cam portions 46B and 46D in one direction and by the cam portions 46F and 46H in the opposite direction, the needle eyes 65 are at their maximum elevation above the pile wires 24.

The continuing movement of the loom causes the reed 20 to move toward back center. Simultaneously the pile heddle control mechanism lowers the pile heddles 58 with the needle eyes 65 on the right and left sides of the pile wire 24 to their lowest position. The cam 46 turns and moves the high portion 468 out of engagement with the cam follower roller 45 and brings the intermediate portion 46C into engagement therewith. This permitsrthe combs 35 and 35a to return to their intert mediate positions and in the intermediate positions the pile wires 24 are permitted to return to their untilted positions.

Upon arrival of the reed 20 at back center, the shuttle carrying the filling yarn is thrown through the .shed

formed by the harness frames 16 and 17 and over the pile warps 15.

As the reed 20 moves forward for beat up, movement of the cam 46 brings the high portion 46D against the cam follower 45 to permit movement of the comb 35 to the right and the comb 35a to the left as before thereby tilting the tops of the contiguous pile wires 24 to the lower roller 45 so that the combs 35 and 35a return the bars 31 and 31a to upright and untilted position of the pile wires 24.

At this time, the reed 20 having reached its back center position, the shuttle is again thrown through the shed, with the harness frames 16 and 17 oppositely disposed from their former position and with the needle eyes 65 down but on the opposite sides of the pile wire 24. The insertion of a filling pick over the pile warp 15 provides a pile loop.

The cam portions 46F and 46H effect simultaneous movement of the combs 35 and 35a opposite from that described for the cam portions 46B and 46D, with the pile loop formation of opposite hand as illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7.

If desired, the Jacquard mechanism can be actuated to maintain the pile heddles 58 raised for any desired number of picks to give a pile float, and if desired, the Jacquard mechanism can control the pile heddle 58 to position the pile warp below the face of the ground fabric.

Other programming of the movement of the pile heddles 58 may be employed to obtain different pile effects.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for weaving pile fabrics having ground warp threads and a plurality of pile warp threads comprising members for position'mg the ground warp threads to provide successive sheds for the successive insertion of filling threads, a filling thread beat-up member, a plurality of longitudinal pile wires each having a mounting end and an opposite pile gage end extending beyond said beat-up member, a mounting member for said mounting end of said pile wires, a member for tilting one of said pile wires intermediate its ends in a predetermined direction in timed relation, a member for simultaneously tilting another of said pile wires intermediate its ends in an opposite predetermined direction from said other pile wire in timed relation, and a pile control member for controlling each of said pile warp threads in relation to the successive sheds, said control member including a pile heddle for each of the pile warp threads, said heddles having opposite separable side strips between which a respective one of said pile wires is disposed, a pile warp thread engaging portion having a needle for positioning the associated pile warp on one side or the other of said respective pile wire as determined by the tilting thereof and the positioning of said needle, and a member for controlling the raising and lowering of said control member.

2. Apparatus for weaving pile fabrics as defined in claim 1 in which each of said members for tilting includes a fixed comb and a movable comb in horizontal spaced parallel relation to the other, and a connecting member is provided for simultaneously moving said movable combs.

3. Apparatus for weaving pile fabrics as defined in claim 2 in which said connecting member is connected to said movable combs for movement of said movable combs in opposite directions.

4. Apparatus for weaving pile fabrics as defined in claim 1 in which each of said pile wires has a vertically extending bar, said bars for certain of said pile wires are at predetermined distances from their pile gage ends and for others of said pile wires are at different predetermined distances from their pile gage ends said members for tilting said pile wires includes separate upper and lower relatively movable combs with teeth with which said bars are respectively in engagement.

5. Apparatus for weaving pile fabrics as defined in claim 1, in which each of said pile wires has a vertically extending bar, said bars for certain of said pile wires are at predetermined distances from their pile gage ends and for others of said pile wires are at different predetermined distances from their pile gage ends, said members for tilting said pile wires comprise a parallel pair of spaced horizontal combs above and below said pile wires with which said bars are respectively in engagement, one of said combs of each pair being fixed and the other being horizontally movable for tilting said bars, said movable combs being connected for simultaneous movement.

6. Apparatus for weaving pile fabrics as defined in claim 5, in which said movable combs are connected for simultaneous movement in opposite directions.

7. In apparatus for weaving pile fabrics having ground warp threads and pile warp threads, structure for controlling the pile warp threads which comprises a pair of longitudinal pile wires, each of said pile wires being an elongated strip of metal vertically disposed and having a mounting end and an opposite pile gage end, a fixed mounting for said mounting ends of said pile wires, said pile wires in different longitudinally spaced relation to said mounting end each having a vertically extending bar, horizontally spaced parallel members respectively engaging said bars for tilting saidpile wires intermediate their ends, a pile heddle for each of said pile wires controlling said pile warp threads for shedding and for respective disposition on opposite sides of said pile wires as determined by the tilting of said pile wires, and a member for positioning said pile heddles for shedding.

8. Apparatus for weaving pile fabrics as defined in claim 7 in which said members engaging said pile wires include a horizontally movable comb member for each of said pile wires and actuating devices for said comb members.

9. Apparatus for weaving pile fabrics as defined in claim 8, in which said comb members are connected for simultaneous movement.

10. Apparatus for weaving pile fabrics as defined in claim 9, in which said member for positioning said pile heddles for shedding is connected to a Jacquard.

mechanism. 

1. APPARATUS FOR WEAVING PILE FABRICS HAVING GROUND WARP THREADS AND A PLURALITY OF PILE WARP THREADS COMPRISING MEMBERS FOR POSITIONING THE GROUND WARP THREADS TO PROVIDE SUCCESSIVE SHEDS FOR THE SUCCESSIVE INSERTION OF FILLING THREADS, A FILLING THREAD BEAT-UP MEMBER, A PLURALITY OF LONGITUDINAL PILE WIRES EACH HAVING A MOUNTING END AND AN OPPOSITE PILE GAGE END EXTENDING BEYOND SAID BEAT-UP MEMBER, A MOUNTING MEMBER FOR SAID MOUNTING END OF SAID PILE WIRES, A MEMBER FOR TILTING ONE OF SAID PILE WIRES INTERMEDIATE ITS ENDS IN A PREDETERMINED DIRECTION IN TIMED RELATION, A MEMBER FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY TILTING ANOTHER OF SAID PILE WIRES INTERMEDIATE ITS ENDS IN AN OPPOSITE PREDETERMINED DIRECTION FROM SAID OTHER PILE WIRE IN TIMED RELATION, AND A PILE CONTROL MEMBER FOR CONTROLLING EACH OF SAID PILE WARP THREADS IN RELATION TO THE SUCCESSIVE SHEDS, SAID CONTROL MEMBER INCLUDING A PILE HEDDLE FOR EACH OF THE PILE WARP THREADS, SAID HEDDLES HAVING OPPOSITE SEPARABLE SIDE STRIPS BETWEEN 